Heart of Football(Paperback)

Synopsis

If the company of Frank Lampard, Robbie Savage and Ashley Cole, adorned by his other half, the pretty one in Rod Stewart's band the Pram Faces, is your dream ticket to the night out of your life, then perhaps best to put this book down now to avoid further confusion. "The Heart of Football" does not strive to ingratiate itself with the precious young things of celebrity culture, nor does it attempt to sip cocktails in the Sugar Lounge while gushing adoringly at Wayne Rooney's pina colada.Generally, David McVay is more than grateful to gain entry to any lounge that serves cold drinks and hot food, from Darlington to Dagenham through Carlisle, Wrexham and Mansfield. As a player in the 1970s, the author was the victim of a variety of physical assaults - as the outlawed tackles from behind might be termed in modern parlance - at most of those venues. Three decades on, he has been let loose with pointed pen rather than sharpened stud to write the weekly "Heart of Football" column for the "Daily Telegraph" which continues to understand and rejoice that there is life beyond the Premier League, a fact woefully neglected by others of the genre.

It was a season that saw Leeds United performing in the third tier of the domestic game for the first time, Luton Town sinking under the burden of administration and the league's oldest members, Notts County, trying to avoid a devastating expulsion to the Conference."Heart of Football" follows their fortunes and those of the less opulent in the sport's pecking order. McVay reported it like he played, with one eye on the ball and the other trained on impending danger from a splash of opposition colour or a loose cannon emerging from the maddening crowd. Essential on wet, windy and wild nights at The Shay, Spotland or any of the game's endearing and enduring heartlands.

David McVay is a former professional footballer who played with Notts County from 1973-79. He joined the staff of the Nottingham Evening Post in 1983, covering his former club, then in the first division. He spent eight years reporting sport for The Times and now writes a regular football column for the Daily Telegraph. He has written several books, including a definitive autobiography of Tommy Lawton, The Complete Centre Forward, which he co-wrote with Andy Smith, about the legendary former England centre forward whose career and life was ravaged by controversy. He also wrote Steak...Diana Ross, which was published in 2003, a seminal football tale told through the diaries of a 1970s journeyman player (McVay himself) that became a cult classic. It was selected by FourFourTwo magazine as one of the 50 Best Football Books of All Time. More recently, he has penned Forest Cult Heroes, detailing some of the finest and most charismatic players to represent Nottingham Forest. Having played against and socialised with several of the book's subjects, it includes his own personal anecdotes as well as recollections from the elite band of players themselves.

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